Question

Topic: E-Marketing

E-mail Database: How Do I Get Started?

Posted by Anonymous on 1/29/2009 at 2:30 PM ET 250 Points
I recently started volunteering for a non-profit that is about to get their e-marketing underway. What is the best solution for setting up an email database for e-blasts & newsletters? Is an Outlook or Yahoo address book sufficient? Since it's a relatively new non-prof, they have little to no budget. Please help!
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/29/2009 at 2:58 PM Accepted
    Hello,

    If you have very few you can. If you plan to grow the file you might be better service by setting up an account with constant contact. There fee is pretty low + it will look more professional.

    Hope this helps.

    Thank you.

    Tom
  • Posted on 1/29/2009 at 4:02 PM Accepted
    Tom's right.

    You can also try Emma. Their user interface is really simple, their customer service is great, and we found their pricing to be very competitive. They also have several not-for-profit customers, so they can probably give you some good tips too.
  • Posted by Neil on 2/1/2009 at 3:09 AM Accepted
    I work for the StreamSend Email Marketing service.

    We offer affordable pricing and are easy to use. We also offer a non-profit discount but you'd have to contact us to get that as opposed to signing up on the Web. We have a Web form where you under "contact us" or give us a call. Maybe start a free trial first or contact us first. Either way.

    As for how to choose an Email Service Provider (ESP)? I recommend doing free trials of a few ESPs and figure out which one you like best that meets your budget. Before you do that, though, look closely at their Web sites for information on service offering (features, etc.) and pricing structure.

    As with most services, some services are going to be a better match for you and other services are going to be a better match for some other non-profit or company. It is a matter of finding the right fit.
  • Posted by Neil on 2/1/2009 at 3:45 AM Member
    I thought about your situation a bit more and I realized you said little or "no" budget. Now, a number of us ESPs offer a non-profit discount, I do not know of any who offer the service completely free though I could be wrong.

    However, there is a free Web-based email application called MailMan. I have set it up for a couple non-profits I have volunteered for in the past and found it easy to use and easy for them to use. It sends out text only emails and has subscribe and unsubscribe management, etc.

    You may want to consider this as it is very simple, straight forward, and just sends out text emails (not HTML unless something has changed recently), and text is all that is needed for certain things.
  • Posted by Neil on 2/1/2009 at 4:21 AM Member
    I had another important consideration for you to consider. Mailman, which I mentioned above does not have the reporting capability and other features of the ESPs. If you do not need those, then that does not matter.
  • Posted on 2/1/2009 at 4:42 PM Accepted
    Hi there,

    I have found Campaign Monitor extremely effective, and very low cost. It also has a fairly robust reporting system :-)

    https://www.campaignmonitor.com/
  • Posted on 2/2/2009 at 11:06 PM Accepted
    I also like and use Campaign Monitor. It has a pleasing interface, and you don't have to pay flat monthly fee's like other ESP's. Only pay when you send, $5 + $.01 per recipient.

    Although if you're sending to a large list frequently it makes more financial sense to go with another provider.

    If you're really strapped for cash, consider setting up a free opensource solution like PHPlist. It doesn't have as great reporting features, and delivery rates like a paid solution. But perhaps it could work for you.

    Cheers
  • Posted on 2/3/2009 at 5:50 PM Accepted
    Constant Contact has a free trial for up to 100 emails I think and they also have discounts for nonprofits.
  • Posted by Mikee on 2/3/2009 at 11:33 PM Accepted
    I use PHPlist thatmentioned by Jesse. It is free and seems to work well. I t can handle different lists and allows you many configuration options. It does take a little bit of time to set up and can be a little technical. It allows you to set up pages for people to subscribe and unsubscribe which is importnat. This part can become difficult to deal with if you use Outlook to manage your lists.

    Mike
  • Posted on 2/13/2009 at 10:14 AM Author
    Thank you all for your feedback!
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(E-Marketing)